Book lovers will always argue that the book is better than the movie. And now, they may have a scientific argument to back that up.

There's a twist, though: Listening to a book engages the senses more fully than watching the film or TV version.

According to a new study by Joseph Devlin, head of experimental psychology at University College London, listening to audiobooks is more emotionally engaging than watching film or TV.

Scenes from best-selling books and well-known films and TV series were used in the study, including "A Game of Thrones," "The Girl on the Train," "Pride and Prejudice," "The Silence of the Lambs," "Great Expectations," "The Da Vinci Code," "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "Alien."

While participants reported feeling greater involvement in watching video narratives, their bodies said otherwise. Almost all participants had "stronger physiological responses for auditory stories including higher heart rates, greater electrodermal activity, and higher body temperatures," according to the study.

The study is timely, with sales of audiobooks booming. A report by the Audio Publishers Association found that in 2016, total sales for audiobooks rose 18.2% over the previous year, to an estimated $2.1 billion.

Listen or watch? Listening to the audio book version of "The Girl on the Train" will elicit a stronger response than watching the same scene in the movie.(Photo: Universal Pictures)

“This research validates what our customers have been telling us for decades — that audio uniquely engages hearts and minds in intimate, immersive experiences during the hours customers spend with us daily," Don Katz, Audible's founder and CEO, told USA TODAY.

Researchers tested scenes where there were minimal differences in the storyline between the video and audio adaptations. They then tracked conscious responses while measuring heart rate and electrodermal activity. These two physiological signals can reveal cognitive processing and subconscious emotional arousal in the brain.

Listening to a story produced greater emotional and physiological engagement than watching the same scene on a screen. According to Devlin, “though participants surveyed assumed they were less engaged, the biometric sensors indicate otherwise. ... It seems as though the heart really does tell the story.”

How does it work? As Devlin explains: "We all know that listening to a story takes the consumer on a journey in which their imagination re-creates the world of the story. The voices of characters, their appearance, the scenery — indeed all of the sensory experience — is reproduced in the listener’s brain. This is fundamentally different than watching a video where the director’s vision of the story has been meticulously created for you."